I'm posting this because no one else has yet.
On October 13th, President George W. Bush signed into law a bill that will toughen policies concerning the pirating of all forms of "intellectual property," be it music, movies, computer programs, or what have you.
Under this bill, an Intellectual Property Czar - a cabinet level position - will be appointed, who will report directly to the president concerning counterfeiting, pirating, stealing - whatever you want to call it.
Not surprisingly, this law is heavily backed by the RIAA and the MPAA, two big, vicious dogs in the anti-piracy movement.
White House officials are claiming that the bill will help in the fight against - brace yourself - TERRORISM. Yes, they pulled that card. According to officials, terrorist groups profit from counterfeit sales.
So shut down soulseek, LimeWire, or whatever other p2p client you're using - the penalties for piracy have been raised sky high (though, not as high as they were originally going to be. Under the original bill, someone who downloaded each track of the Guns 'N' Roses album "Appetite For Destruction" could be fined a whopping $360 million).
The full text of the law can be found here.
(image courtesy mises.org)
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